THE OPPOSITION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 36, 30 September 1871, Page 15

THE OPPOSITION.

[lndependent, September 26.] The division upon Friday night may or may not have been a crucial test of the strength of the Government; everyone is at liberty to form his own conclusions in accordance with his endowment with common sense; but it cannot be impugned that, if not decisive as to strength upon the one side, it was clearly so as to weakness upon the other. A more complete fiasco was never made by political party than the putting up of the member for Eden to move a quasi want of confidence vote, and the placing this in the form of an old " stage trick" familiar to politicians—a resolution to return the Estimates to the Government in order that they might be cut down by a lump sum. We have already discussed the absolute absurdity of the proposal, and the impossibility of any Ministry with a grain of self-respect treating it otherwise than a vote of " want of confidence." Mr Stafford was eminently unhappy in his choice of a catspaw upon the occasion; of all persons in the House we should suppose Mr Creighton commands the least confidence. His influence is confined to his own vote. Session by session, as the accidents of his

position necessitate, he shifts from side to side : now the very humblest servant of Mr J. Williamson; anon of Mr Vogel, and, at the present writing, of Mr Gillies : " Sworn to no party, of no sect is he." His brief administration in Auckland leaves no doubt as to his powers in that direction ; affording a fair caution to those who know him what " to avoid" in political places of confidence and trust. Mr Stafford's idea may not unreasonably have been to select a tool suited for the work, but, as is not unusual with over-clever people, he rather overshot the mark, and made a blunder which time alone can render redeemable.

It may, we imagine, be fairly assumed that, notwithstanding the unfavorable auspices under which the first absolute attack was made, the minority upon the division represent the nucleus of the future Opposition ; that under any possible circumstances the fifteen gentlemen will record their votes against Ministers. It may be instructive therefore to look at the constitution of the gathering which followed Mr Creighton into the lobby—and we shall be forced into the belief that little congruitv can be expected from such a combination of motley opinions, and that though their forces might be united to effect an expulsion they can never blend for united action in any other direction. Mr Rolleston presents the curious paradox of being at the same time the most consistent and the iisost inconsistent politician in the colony. Consistent in " generals," inconsistent in " particulars." The country can only be saved by carrying out his special crotchets; all parties are equally wrong in his eyes, but the Government of the day, whoever they may be, are his special aversion. He belongs to what we may call the " Jeremiad " school of politicians, being nearly the last survivor, fortunately, in Parliament, and like the prophet who has given the name to the designation, pours forth a constant flood of lugubrious bewailings over everything in general and nothing in particular. With the assistance of his friend the Comptroller and the dismal Stevens, he turned out the Stafford Ministry, and has been bewailing the fact ever since, and now he is singing dirges over his disappointed hopes, and, with all the force of funereal oratory, sighing to the House his utter want of trust in the JUinistry of his choice, and his aspirations to join his (late) arch-enemy in the possible Cabinet. Unlike Mr Creighton he has one follower, rather difficult to manage, and impossible to drive—Mr E. J. Wakefield. Of him we will say but this, that as yet he has shown no signs of ever being able to regain that position as an orator and a thinker which he maintained of old, and that his continual displays of petulance and petty pride do not tend in any way to restore his influence. ISlext we have Mr Donald Reid and his provincial, we were going to say "tail," but that would be rude]; we will substitute " following." Mr Reid is, we believe, Provincial Secretary of Otago, and in forming his Executive upon the last occasion, judiciously selected two honorable members of the House, Messrs Bradshaw and Bathgate, as his colleagues. He may therefore be looked upon with respect as absolutely commanding, upon all critical occasions, at least two votes besides his own. On the other hand, his conduct in provincial politics has necessarily alienated from him the majority of the Otago members, and has utterly destroyed any chance of his taking a position in the House. Numerically, no doubt, Mr Reid is a gain to the Opposition : in any other way he is by no means an acquisition, being obstinate to a fault, narrow in his views, and having been entirely carried off his head by the adulation of the League party in Dunedin, who tried hard to return him for the Superintendency. Messrs Bradshaw and Bathgate are Mr Reid's colleagues, and when we have said that we have said all that is neces sary of these gentlemen, who are neither of them likely to set the political Thames on fire. Mr J. C. Brown may be counted another staunch follower of Mr Reid : he is the author of the cele brated dirge of the " dying member," recorded for ever in the pages of " Hansard." Eloquence is not his forte, but he stands unequalled in what is understood by " lobbying," and might be possibly useful to his party did he but po&sess those requisites for attain-

ing personal popularity which are indispensable in the position he assumes. Mr Reader Wood, we must confess, rather puzzles us, and though acknowledging the probability of his generally being found in opposition, we hardly expected him to record his vote in favor of such a proposal as Mr Creighton's. Mr Wood, Heaven save the mark, has been a Colonial Treasurer, and must have fully realised the humbug of the whole affair. Is it that those who have once tasted the sweets of office cannot view but with envy, jealousy, and all uncbaritableness, the policy of the men who fill their places ? or is the remembrance of the mission to England to raise the ruinous three million loan become bitter from the consciousness that those halcyon days, or days like them, are but the •' shadowy phantoms of a vision ?" Does Mr Wood look to regain office under Mr Stafford's skirts ? We think he is making a mistake ; and, if we may do so without impertinence, amicably advise him to trim his sails, and work out of the shallows he has drifted into. Place auocgrands* We have passed over Mr T. B. Gillies, the heart and soul, we may say, of the Opposition. There is no doubt about his being in earnest; he has a mortal hatred of Ministers, and he shows it. His expression of countenance, his voice when addressing the Government benches, become the reverse of angelic; whilst he claws the air with his hands, as if longing to rend his enemies limb from limb. Fortunately it is brutum fiiknen, and nothing more, and has little effect, beyond amusement, upon the House. He rarely condescends to argument, and when he meddles with figures, as was clearly illustrated the other day, he makes a precious mess of it. As attempting to lead a party, Mr Gillies has always singularly failed ; as an adherent he has proved damaging; as a member of a Cabinet destructive. We may be allowed, therefore, to congratulate the Government that he is in the hostile camp ; he may be depended upon to make the life of the Opposition bitter to them, and, indeed, Stafford before long to wish that he had been born in Hector's prehistoric age. Mr , Curtis has up to this time, we believe, not expressed himself in the House upon the subject of the Government policy; we are, therefore, at a loss to account for the position he thought fit to take upon Friday. It would appear, however, that in the happy valley of Nelson strong parties of cliques exist, fostered by rival newspapers edited with exceptional talent. It is difficult, probably, to live there without imbibing strong party views, and the action of an individual member of the Government with regard to certain matters in dispute before the law courts, to which we need not now further allude, may have originated and intensified a bitter feeling, which has overcome the better judgment of the Superintendent and his friends. We have the greatest respect for Mr Curtis, and trust we may yet see him assisting the Government in carrying out the details of a policy which cannot but prove advantageous to the progress of the colony.

One remark we make in conclusion. No fifteen members of the House could be selected representing more widely divergent opinions. Stafford and Bathgate ! These names are to be seen together only once before, but that is on an exceedingly well-executed cartoon engraved in Dunedin, in which the defiant attitude of the latter, and the supercilious contempt depicted on the face of the former, certainly do not favor the idea of them working in couples. Rolleston and J. C. Brown! These two differ in their political opinions, and in their modes of thought, perhaps more widely than even the pair just referred to. Some people's heads are filled with only one idea : Mr Brown's is filled with two ; the first being " Hundreds," and the second "Separation." Mr Rolleston scouts both with equal scorn and aversion, the first as antiquated and absurd, the second as ungenerous and unpatri©tic. And so it might be shown by pairing the rest, that on all important subjects " the fifteen" differ toto ccslo. Nay, the very subjects that bulk largest in their estimation are those in which they differ the most. The land question and the native question must set them all by the ears. Mr Stafford should take warning by the fate of Actseon.